Book Recommendation

I love reading non-fiction books about lawsuits. My favorites are those written by the attorney who actually worked on the case, or someone with some involvement in the case, like Helter Skelter, The Defense Never Rests, A Civil Action, World War 3.0, etc. There are surprisingly few that deal with IP issues. (Imagine that!)

However, I recently read The Billion Dollar Monopoly® Swindle, by Ralph Anspach. Ralph invented the game Anti-Monopoly in the 1970s. Remember that game? Bust the Trust? I vaguely do. This book deals with the sordid history of the game Monopoly® and the subsequent lawsuit against Anspach for copyright infringement. His argument? That Parker Brothers did not even have rights to Monopoly®. It includes pictures of early Monopoly-like games and patent drawings (!) of early Monopoly® games. Very interesting book, and a fun read.

And somewhat related to patentability, and the issue of first inventorship.

I'm also currently reading Innovation and Its Discontents: How Our Broken Patent System is Endangering Innovation and Progress and What to Do About It, by Adam B. Jaffe and Josh Lerner. I'll post my thoughts on it when I finish. Not only does it have the longest title I’ve ever seen (and I thought A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was bad), but it’s a fairly dry read, even for a patent lawyer. Please note that if you click on any of the above links, you will have the option of using the infamous Amazon "One-Click" patent if you choose to buy.